I’m sharing this because any reduction in unnecessary packaging waste is good for the planet - and because I think laser-etching avocados is funny. 🙂

    • Sludgehammer@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Eh… I dunno. You’d be comparing the power consumption of the laser etching machine to the energy cost of shipping oil to make the plastic to make the label, shipping the raw plastic to a facility to actually print the labels, making the adhesive, then (probably) shipping the labels and adhesive to the packing plant and then adding in the power of the machinery to that actually sticks the label on.

      I have no real numbers here but I could see zapping a avocado with a laser being the more energy efficient one.

      • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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        5 months ago

        What label? I literally have not seen any sort of stickers on fruits & veggies in years. I only see packaging on softer produce that’s prone to damage, quick to dry out, or harder to carry due to size. But again, it’s an avocado.

    • LostXOR@fedia.io
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      5 months ago

      It likely only takes a few kilojoules to etch each avocado which is essentially nothing (for comparison, an avocado has around a megajoule of energy).

      • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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        5 months ago

        Not sure where the energy of the avocado becomes relevant here. It won’t be used to produce electricity.

        • LostXOR@fedia.io
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          5 months ago

          It’s not really relevant, just a comparison to show how little energy that few kilojoules is.

    • Pennomi@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Energy and packaging are orthogonal concerns, but we should be aware of both of them.